At first I thought WOTC was joking but they are not. 3.5 is re-released!

I interpret this as an almost complete abandonment of 4E. (Personal opinion - not fact.) I have to think that D&D Encounters, a seemingly very popular program, might switch to 3.5 in the next season or two? I mean – if fans would prefer 3.5E, I have to think WOTC would give them what they want??

Side note – I really like D&D Encounters and I’ll play 4E or 3.5E. Both work fine for me.

Wizards is re-releasing the original PHB, DMG, and MM from 1st edition as well as the 3.5e books. They’ve already said (or at least strongly hinted) that the new D&D Next will be in some ways compatible with all previous editions of D&D. They’re making all the old stuff available again so that newer players can get them easily and at reasonable prices. Until now if you wanted older books you had to pay the market price online for many of these “collectable” editions.

As for D&D Encounters, I think it’s safe to say that it will remain 4e until D&D Next is officially released (which is likely not going to happen for another year or more). After all, 4e is still the current edition. All the new materials are keyed to 4e with more source books scheduled for release in the next few months. Changing editions now (back to 3.5e) seems like a lot of work for everyone considering D&D Next is not that far away. But stranger things have happened.

Don't forget that the older edition reprints fill a gap in their publishing schedule with the lack of future 4e publications. (Menzoberanzan doesn't count, since I believe they said it will be "edition neutral".)

Has their been any news regarding Encounters seasons beyond the Underdark trilogy?

I agree it’s sorta crazy to switch D&D Encounters to 3.5. But bear with me…

One of the purposes of D&D Encounters is for players to buy books at their local game store. There are no more 4E books coming out (that I’m aware of.) So what’s in it for the game store? However… if Encounters switched to 3.5, you’d have at least *some* folks buying the 3.5 books at the local game shop so they could use them in Encounters.

I agree it’s sorta crazy to switch D&D Encounters to 3.5. But bear with me…

One of the purposes of D&D Encounters is for players to buy books at their local game store.

Well, not quite. One of the purposes is to sell product, yes, but not always just books. For at least one season of Encounters the featured product was the Fortune Cards, and in August they're introducing Drow Treachery Cards. www.wizards.com/dnd/Product.aspx?x=dnd/p...

I was buying them, but pretty much stopped after a few Elemental Chaos booster packs. I doubt I'll bother with the Treachery cards, especially since I don't use any of the cards I have. Most of the people I play LFR with don't use them either.

Most of the folks in my group use them-- we encouraged purchasing them during the Neverwinter season in particular (our FLGS had a breakin and needed some community love), and we are very good about making sure everyone gets their cards for renown rewards.

The Elemental Chaos packs were very weak. The best packs were from the Feywild series, followed by the Neverwinter series. I have no doubt the drow packs will be uber-cheesy. I'm going to try to see if the drow status rules are applicable in the campaign next season, and encourage my DMs to use them.

If they wanted to do something that might give some goodwill to the players, let them keep the same PCs during these Drow seasons. A lot of my local players would jump at the chance at playing a 3+ level PC.

If they wanted to do something that might give some goodwill to the players, let them keep the same PCs during these Drow seasons. A lot of my local players would jump at the chance at playing a 3+ level PC.